UPDATE - UN helicopter crashes in DR Congo, killing all 8 on board

ADDS CONFIRMATION OF DEATHS OF ALL PASSENGERS, DETAILS ON SECURITY SITUATION IN EASTERN CONGO, MONUSCO BRIEFING

By James Tasamba

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) - The Democratic Republic of Congo accused rebels Tuesday of shooting down a UN helicopter, which crashed in the country’s east, killing all eight people on board.

The helicopter, carrying eight peacekeepers and UN observers, was shot down in an area controlled by the March 23 Movement (M23) rebel group, said Brig. Gen. Sylvain Ekenge, the deputy spokesman for the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) general staff.

“The helicopter was shot down in the midst of a harmless mission to assess population movements caused by M23 attacks in the region, in anticipation of the humanitarian actions to be undertaken,” Ekenge told reporters.

The bodies of all the passengers were found dead, said Khassim Diagne, the deputy special representative for protection and operations at the UN Mission in Congo (MONUSCO).

The victims included six Pakistanis, one Russian and one Serb, according to MONUSCO.

The cause of the crash is not yet known, and an investigation to be conducted in close collaboration with Congolese authorities has been launched, but the possibility of an attack cannot be ruled out, said Diagne.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's army said in a statement that six of its soldiers were on board the helicopter as part of the UN peacekeeping mission.

"Pakistan has always played a pivotal role as a responsible member of the international community to help realize ideals of global peace and security" in various peacekeeping missions, the statement added.

The Pakistan Aviation Unit has been deployed in the UN Mission Congo on peacekeeping duties since 2011.

Earlier in the day, the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo said it had lost contact with one of its helicopters on a reconnaissance mission in the Tshanzu area in the eastern part of the country.

Fighting between Congolese troops and M23 rebels broke out in North Kivu province on Sunday after the rebels attacked military positions in the Tshanzu and Runyonyi regions in Rutsuru territory.

The Congolese military accused Rwandan soldiers of backing the M23 fighters.

But Rwanda dismissed the allegations, calling them "baseless" in a statement released Tuesday.

The fighting forced about 13,000 people to flee to neighboring Uganda.

Local sources said fighting continued on Tuesday as M23 rebels tried to capture the town of Bunagana bordering Uganda.

In 2013, the M23 rebel group signed a peace agreement with the Congolese government in Kenya’s capital Nairobi

But M23 leaders have accused the government of failing to respect the agreement as clashes continue.

The past three months have seen an alarming resumption of activities by M23 rebels in North Kivu, leading to significant fighting with the Congolese military, according to the UN.

-Worsening security situation in eastern Congo

The security situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has deteriorated since last December, Bintou Keita, the head of MONUSCO, said Tuesday, briefing the UN Security Council on the current security situation in the country.

Nearly 2,300 people have been killed in the past three months following the deteriorating security situation in eastern North Kivu and Ituri provinces, she said.

She cited militiamen from the Cooperative for the Development of Congo (CODECO) and Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels among the groups causing havoc.

“Despite the military operations of the Congolese defense and security forces complemented by joint military operations by FARDC and Ugandan forces, civilian casualties and population displacement have increased due to the bloody reprisals of the ADF against the civilian populations in North Kivu and Ituri,” added Keita.

*Aamir Latif from Karachi, Pakistan contributed to this report